Painting Room With Aquarium

[ablizzard]

Hey everyone!


I am going to be painting a bedroom that has an aquarium in it. Th owner is out of town so I am uneasy about moving the tank without her approval/guidance.

1.) Is there a need to move/protect the tank from the paint fumes?
2.) Am I able to cover the tank with something to prevent fumes from permeating the water?
3.) If I were to cover the tank, would plastic sheeting around the tank deprive the tank of oxygen? It would be covered for a MAX of 24hrs.

There is a window that will be open for ventilation.

Thanks for the help.
Andrew

 

[BigIan]

no doubt you will be moving the tank to decorate behind it, i`d put wsome polythene over the tank and make sure the room is well ventilaterd

 

[avirex]

i think i mite be having that same problems...grrrr

 

[Tolak]

As long as you have ventilation, the fish will be fine. Painting behing tanks sucks, you usually have to drain them down & carefully slide them away from the wall. This is not a one person task, and it's the only time I could see moving a tank without completely emptying it.

 

[lucky_dresden]

I've seen oxygen tablets in my lfs .

Could you seal the tank with tape (or something like that) put some oxygen tabs in and have a sort of positive pressure inside the tank pushing air out.

Probably overstating the positive pressure but you know what I mean.

Pat.

 

[Tolak]

Really no reason to go overboard with sealing & stuff, I've painted around tanks many times. Unless the fumes are so overwelming that you can't stay in the room some ventilation is fine. Latex paint, the kind most commonly used for interior painting, isn't that fumey to begin with. I've used oil based primer around tanks without a problem, just ventilate.

Last year I painted my basement floor with 12 tanks in the next room, and hardly any ventilation. Concrete paint is similar odorwise to oil base, didn't have a problem.

 

[annka5]

I agree with Tolak - assuming you're just using normal domestic paint then there shouldn''t be a problem. Anything that you can apply without using a mask or which doesn't have warnings re:using it only in well ventilated areas and using a mask would be fine IMO.